Reps to conduct nationwide survey on fake anti-malaria drugs

The House of Representatives has given its Committee on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Control a mandate to carry out a nationwide survey on the prevalence of fake anti-malaria drugs in the country and report back to it within four weeks.

The resolution which was reached during plenary on Thursday, came following the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance brought jointly sponsored by the members representing Orhionmwon/Uhunmwode and Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituencies of Edo and Abia States, Billy Osawaru and Osonwa Ibe.

The survey which will cover the six geo-political zones of the country, is to determine how the fake drugs manage to get into the country.

Osawaru who spoke on the significance of the bill titled ‘Motion on the urgent need to conduct a national baseline survey on fake anti-malaria medicines in Nigeria,’ said the circulation of fake malaria drugs in the country has reached a worrisome point that urgent steps need to be taken to curb it.

“In June 2018, NAFDAC was informed of the circulation of some fake varieties of anti-malaria drugs imported fraudulently from India,” he explained.

“The use of these fake drugs is crucial and brings complications in treatment and eventually increases the risk of death.

READ ALSO: 81,000 Nigerians die of malaria annually —FG

“Counterfeiting of drugs was almost ignored or at least largely underestimated but it has now clearly emerged as one of the most crucial public health problems in Nigeria. Although important efforts have been made to fight against this criminal traffic by NAFDAC, much more needs to be done.

“This House is worried that according to the research of the World Health Organisation in 2022, it was estimated that 116,000 people die in Sub-Saharan Africa each year because of counterfeit malaria drugs. WHO Global Malaria Report (2023) stated that 22 persons die every hour from malaria in Nigeria making it approximately 200,000 deaths annually.

“In other words, over a quarter of all deaths from malaria are linked to fraudulent medicines; thus, the need for a national baseline survey project to collect information on the status of fake anti-malaria medicines to determine the mode of approach, level of effort needed and probably resources required to dismantle the unfortunate development of this crime against humanity.

“The baseline survey is an important activity that must be urgently done, in order to determine the before and after situations of the project’s fight against low-quality anti-malaria medicines in Nigeria.

“The survey will provide the fight with useful information that will be used to determine the methodology to be adopted to reduce the number of deaths from the use of fake malaria drugs in Nigeria,” he noted.

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